SCOTTSDALE -- At least Stewart Cink has a sense of humor.

Shortly after he finished off an 83 Thursday in the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, he took to Twitter to explain the uncharacteristically high score to his fans.

@stewartcink I'm not injured, except for slightly bruised ego.

Cink's round of 12 over included three double bogeys, seven bogeys and a lone birdie. He only hit four fairways, six greens and had 32 putts.

Thursday's round was Cink's 1,385th in 406 starts on the PGA TOUR. His previous high score was a 13-over 83 in the third round of the 1998 British Open.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

There are only two weeks left for players outside the top 64 in the Official World Golf Ranking to qualify for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship Feb 22-26 in Marana, Ariz. In other words, Vijay Singh and Padraig Harrington, among others, have some work to do.

Singh and Harrington are 69th and 90th, respectively, and in need of strong performances in one or more likely both of the next two weeks. Singh is in the field for this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, while Harrington has the week off.

Last year, Singh also failed to qualify.

Other notables on the outside looking in include  Sean O’Hair (68th), Sony Open in Hawaii winner Johnson Wagner (70th) and last year’s Wells Fargo Championship winner Lucas Glover, who is 77th in the world and has yet to play this year after withdrawing from the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a knee injury.

The player currently on the bubble at No. 64 is the Netherlands’ Joost Luiten. However with Phil Mickelson having already said that he plans to take that week off, the field would then extend to the 65th player in the world -- currently Rory Sabbatini.

Also among those outside the top 64: Kyle Stanley. The hard-luck loser of the Farmers Insurance Open is 87th in the world. Had he won at Torrey Pines, he would have moved up to 64th.

Others in more dire circumstances include Branden Grace, a two-time winner on the European Tour this year who has only climbed to 93rd; Camilo Villegas (99th); Anthony Kim (102nd); and Stewart Cink (138th).

Only once in Cink’s career has he failed to qualify for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Champisonhip, a tournament he’s been dominant in with six trips to at least the quarterfinals. On four of those occasions Cink reached at least the semifinals, including from 2008 to 2010 when he finished second, third and tied for fifth.

From a three-time major winner to a promising young rookie, there’s plenty of variety unveiled Monday on PGATOUR.COM’s Top 100 Players to Watch in 2012. Padraig Harrington owns three majors and Retief Goosen has a pair of U.S. Opens to his credit. Winners in the past year on this list also include Jonathan Byrd (Hyundai Tournament of Champions), Martin Laird (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard), Kevin Na (Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open) and Sean O’Hair (RBC Canadian Open). At the other end of the spectrum is Bud Cauley, who made a splash in a limited number of starts in 2011 but could be poised for a big rookie season. Below is a link to each of the 10 players who were revealed on Monday. PGATOUR.COM will countdown the players for the rest of December, with No. 1 unveiled on Dec. 30. Be sure to check out this year’s new addition of the Three Wise Men – Chris DiMarco, Arron Oberholser and Craig Perks, who offer their takes on each of the players on the list. Let’s us know how you think these players will perform in 2012 and whether we ranked ‘em too high, too low or just right. No. 51: Jonathan Byrd No. 52: Y.E. Yang No. 53: Padraig Harrington No. 54: Martin Laird No. 55: Retief Goosen No. 56: Charles Howell III No. 57: Stewart Cink No. 58: Bud Cauley No. 59: Kevin Na No. 60: Sean O’Hair CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARCHIVE PAGE/SCHEDULE FOR THE TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012

The charities of four PGA TOUR players received a total of $60,000 on Tuesday thanks to a program funded by DePuy Mitek, the Official Mobile Health and Fitness Provider of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.

Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink and Jonathan Byrd were on hand to accept the donations from the ORTHOVISC® PGA TOUR Player Charity Program, where thousands of fans voted for their favorite participating players.

John Daly, who is playing in Portugal this week, received the most votes so his charity, the Boys and Girls Club of River Valley Arkansas, will receive $25,000. Furyk earned $15,000 for the Jim and Tabitha Furyk Foundation while Cink's charity, The Healing Place, and Byrd's foundation, the Jim Byrd Memorial, each receive $10,000.

The Jim and Tabitha Foundation raises charity dollars and awareness for groups that provide services such as hospice care, hospital and nursing services, counseling, mentoring and food and shelter services to those children needing it the most.
 
Cink's charity, The Healing Place, helps provide education and support programs for grieving children, adolescents and their families or guardians. Byrd created The Jim Byrd Memorial to honor his late father and raise money for local charities.

Fans were able to view information about a player's charity at a kiosk at nine PGA TOUR events and send them a personal “shout out” or text message. DePuy Mitek sponsors the state-of-the-art fitness trailers at TOUR events in an effort to educate golfers and fans alike on the importance of keeping their knees healthy and free of pain.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

Only twice in his career has Stewart Cink finished a season without at least one finish in the top 3 somewhere on the schedule -- last year and in 2002. He doesn’t have one this year either. In fact Cink has just one top-10 all year.

After an opening 66 Thursday, however, he’s in a position to change that at a course he’s had plenty of success at over the years. In 11 previous trips to Firestone, Cink has four top-10s, which includes his win in 2004.

“You're always searching for ways to pick the course apart and take advantage of it, and sometimes it doesn't work out,” Cink said. “Today it is working out and there's going to be a low score out there.”

Unfortunately for Cink, though, there haven’t been a lot of low scores this season. The 66 Thursday represents his second-lowest round of the year and with the PGA Championship a week away, Cink is hoping that a win, or even a good week, can help turnaround what’s been an otherwise disappointing season.

“I just like the opportunity to try to get in contention again and maybe win another [major],” Cink said. “At the PGA I don't really feel the pressure that, oh, it's the last chance of the year, but I do realize that after it you have to wait a lot longer than most.”

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM BETHESDA, Md. -- It was touch-and-go for a while there, but the Big Three played their way into the weekend Friday afternoon. World No. 2 Lee Westwood ripped through a second-round 68 to go into the weekend at plus-1, while third-ranked  Martin Kaymer shot a 70 and is at 2 over. World No. 1 Luke Donald struggled coming in, but shot 72 to settle in at 4 over, which is expected to be the cut. Donald considered himself lucky to make the cut. "I struggled on the back nine both days and that comes down to not hitting enough fairways and not hitting enough greens,'' he said. "I hit 50 percent of fairways this week and you are always going to struggle on a course like this. I’ve got to find something on the weekend and shoot a couple of good rounds and see what happens. Rory is well ahead but you keep fighting and see what you can do." When asked about chasing leader Rory McIlroy and what advice he might give him, Westwood chuckled. "I'm supposed to beat him over the next two days,'' he said. "I'm hardly going to give him advice, am I?" Westwood has his eye on Y.E. Yang, who is in second. "Trying to catch him, because if I'm going to win the tournament, then I'm going to need Rory to play poorly over the weekend,'' Westwood said. "I might play great and shoot 11‑under par and get to 10, but he's still got to shoot ‑‑ if he shoots level at the weekend then he wins. But when you've got a six‑shot lead, as I know, because I've had a few six‑shot leads, everybody gives you the tournament almost, so in everybody's mind he's probably already won it.  They're probably debating whether he's already won it on TV." Perhaps. But what they are doing is wondering just who will be around for the weekend. With play suspended at 8:04 p.m. and seven groups still on the course, it looks as though some prominent names will be headed home. The final cut will be made Saturday after the second round concludes. Bubba Watson (4 over) is the only one of the four Golf Boys to make the cut. Hunter Mahan and Rickie Fowler are just under the current line at 5 over, along with Adam Scott and former British Open champ Stewart Cink, who bogeyed his final hole. Ian Poulter (6 over) landed in Orlando in time for dinner -- he tweeted it -- and had company there at 6 over with two-time U.S. Open champ Ernie Els and Ben Crane. Former PGA champ David Toms and former U.S. Open Jim Furyk went home at 7 over par, as did former Masters champ Angel Cabrera at 8 over.  

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM

BETHESDA, Md. -- New chapter. New verse.

Graeme McDowell wanted to put the 2010 U.S. Open behind him and he did. Woke up Thursday morning ready to go. Ready to be just one of the guys chasing the trophy at Congressional.

"I feel like I've spent the last three months talking about Pebble and defending my Open title, and so somehow coming here this week, I really felt that I had already sort of did all the talking and I was ready to move forward,'' McDowell said.

"I felt really, really good this morning. I felt normal. It felt like a regular Major Championship. It didn't feel like I was defending anything. And I just went out there. I set myself some challenges this morning to go out and try to think well, try to go through my processes correctly, through my routines, and just be patient and enjoy the round. And I really accomplished those things."

He finished the day at 1-under-par 71 -- two shots off the mid-day lead -- and with a first on the golf course.

He and Louis Oosthuizen both laid up off the tee at the ninth hole and when they walked up, their golf balls were touching.

"We laid them up from about 220 yards and the two balls were touching in the fairway, which I've never seen on the golf course before,'' McDowell said. "It was pretty incredible. It was a very unusual circumstance. Louis had to go first, and thankful he didn't remove a huge piece of turf, I didn't know what I was going to do to recreate my lie if he had taken a huge divot. He picked it off the turf quite cleanly and I was thankful for that."

He said, although the grounds crew is doing what they can with the greens -- they had a wet spring -- they are still having a few problems.

"Yeah, they're brown in places,'' he said. "They used the front pin on 4, which we looked at yesterday in practice and that was a particularly brown and beaten up area of the green. And they did the same on 12. They used the very front portion there, probably before they lose them, you know. Of course they've taken this golf course ‑‑ I know they've had a wet spring here.  They've obviously taken this golf course to the edge to try to dry it as much as they can. There are certain areas of the greens that you can see are under stress, they're very stressed.  Parts of the greens were firm.

"They're doing a job at the minute. It will be interesting to see if this wind continues to dry them out. You can hear the SubAir working on some of the greens and the SubAir not working on other greens. They've obviously got a bit of an imbalance out there, as far as how much moisture are on certain parts of the greens.

"At the moment, they're doing a good job."

And, just in case you're wondering, G-Mac didn't give the U.S. Open trophy a kiss when he gave it back.

"I didn't,'' he said, "I'm not really that sentimental.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM

BETHESDA, Md. -- Stewart Cink took one last swing at the 10th hole yesterday before he walked off the course.

Normally, he wouldn't. It would be nine holes and out. Back to the hotel. But he wanted one last look at the dastardly 220-yard par 3 over water.

Thursday, he was glad he did.

Cink opened with a birdie at the 10th Thursday -- a full, smooth 5-iron to 3 feet. Not bad. Not bad at all.

"They gave us a little break by moving the tee up,'' said the 2009 British Open champion. "And it was raining when we got to the tee, we had to do a lot of the mathematical calculations. I was over there early to see the group in front of me hit. I saw one ball. Heath Slocum hit a nice shot and it came up in the water. I added a few yards to what I was playing. And hit it in close.''

Seventeen holes later, Cink was in the clubhouse at 1-under-par 70, two shots off the early lead.

"I like being under par,'' Cink said. "I didn't play particularly well today.  I scored well.  I didn't hit very many greens, but when I did hit the greens, I made putts. It wasn't a U.S. Open style round at all, but I'll take under par."

The early groups, as always, got more receptive greens. What Cink wants to fix is . . . his play.

"I think I've actually got a really good attitude, I think I can do better than I did today,'' he said. "I hit some poor shots that I'm not very happy about. The attitude will be ‑‑ the rest of the day trying to figure out something to go with tomorrow that is a little bit more reliable, and hit a few more targets and come at it tomorrow with a positive attitude. "

BETHESDA, Md. – A man who has never played the weekend at a U.S. Open is setting the pace midway through the morning half of the draw.

Ryan Palmer, who missed the cut at the U.S. Open in 1998 and 2007, has yet to make a bogey in the first round. The Texan started on the front, as have the majority of the players at the top of the leaderboard, and has completed 11 holes in 3 under.

One of his playing partners, Jeff Overton, is tied at 2 under with Johan Edfors, a Swede who went to college at Texas-San Antonio.

Giving chase are several major champions, including Graeme McDowell, who is defending the title he won a year ago at Pebble Beach. He’s tied at 1 under along with 2009 British Open champ Stewart Cink, 2009 PGA champ Y.E. Yang and Davis Love III, who won the 1997 PGA.

Also at 1 under are Chez Reavie, who is playing his 18th hole; J.J. Henry and Jason Day. The group at even par includes three-time major champion Padraig Harrington and Louis Oosthuizen, who will defend his British Open title next month at Royal St. George’s.

Phil Mickelson, who has finished second at the U.S. Open five times, is among the afternoon starters. The birthday boy – Mickelson turns 41 today -- tees off No. 10 in the day’s Featured Group with Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.

Nike has provided a preview of what some of their players will be wearing this week for the U.S. Open. Here’s a look at the clothes Anthony Kim, Paul Casey, Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink are expected to wear for each of the four rounds (should each make the cut, of course) at Congressional.